The estimates are in for Memorial Day and Star Trek is projected to take in a total of $29.4M for the four day holiday weekend domestically, putting it in third place. Star Trek’s $6.6M Memorial day estimate puts its total domestic take to $191M. Trek’s continued performance has impressed many box office watchers, details below.
Trek’s impressive 4 day weekend
As Star Trek heads towards taking over the top spot as highest grossing film of 2009 (domestically), box office watchers are impressed, here are some quotes from today:
Posting another strong performance was the sci-fi smash Star Trek which took in an estimated $29.4M over the Friday-to-Monday span lifting the cume to a robust $191M after 18 days of release. The three-day portion stood at $22.8M for a 47% drop which was encouraging given the arrival of competing sci-fi franchise flick Terminator. Trek now looks set to finish its domestic run in the neighborhood of $250M making it the seventh biggest blockbuster in company history for Paramount
– Box Office Guru
Down 47 percent for the three-day weekend, Star Trek notched an estimated $29.4 million four-day, and, with $191 million in 18 days, it jumped ahead of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock to become the Star Trek franchise’s fourth most-attended picture. Its descent was partly due to a loss of IMAX showings: the Night at the Museum sequel took over nearly all of them. Playing only midnight shows at 130 sites, Star Trek’s IMAX-only weekend was an estimated $600,000, off over 90 percent from last weekend for an IMAX-only tally of $20.7 million.
– Box Office Mojo
Trek,’ in particular, is holding up extremely well — the sci-fi reboot is closing in on $200 million and should take over Monsters vs. Aliens this week to become 2009’s top moneymaker.
– EW
In third is the most elusive of all box-office creatures, the summer blockbuster with "legs": Paramount’s Star Trek. At $191 million in earnings with just a miniscule drop of 47 percent, the film is on the cusp of becoming the highest grossing film of the year.
– Hollywood.com
Paramount’s "Star Trek" held up well with $29.4 million, warping down to the No. 3 spot but raising its total to $191 million. The sci-fi franchise reboot directed by J.J. Abrams is on the verge of becoming the year’s top-grossing movie so far, approaching the $193.5 million gross of DreamWorks Animation’s "Monsters vs. Aliens."
"’Star Trek’ is living long and prospering," said [Paul] Dergarabedian [of Hollywood.com]. "It’s just one of those movies we knew would hold up. People are enjoying it and talking about it. It’s unusual for a summer blockbuster to be propelled by word of mouth, not just the typical marketing push for a big opening weekend. I think it’s going to continue to do well week after week."
– AP
The J.J. Abrams reboot is being fueled by great word of mouth and has already reached $191 million, almost unthinkable for a "Star Trek" movie. "Trek" should surpass "Monsters vs. Aliens" as the top grossing movie of the year sometime this week.
– HitFix
There is no new Monday data from overseas, but we have already noted that Star Trek has not matched its domestic performance internationally. As HitFix notes, Angels & Demons has already overtaken Star Trek in international sales, even though it opened a week later.
Today’s domestic estimates of $191M combined with yesterday’s THR estimate of $87.5 overseas (as of Sunday), gives Trek a current estimated total global take of $278.5M.
Great!!!
Pretty damn tasty. $300m soon. Star Trek is hot stuff. :D
Darn.. Oh, well. Next time! Fantastic to see it doing so well. Glad to see some of our own “word of mouth” working!
“almost unthinkable for a “Star Trek” movie. ”
I don’t know If I should be offended or not
I’m delighted to hear it’s doing so well, but I don’t understand all the hoopla if it’s still only in fourth place among all the Trek movies in terms of attendance. Can someone enlighten me?
I wonder why international sales are so low. Im also confused as to how it does SO MUCH better domestically, does domestic count Canada too?
#6 Inflation measured against ticket prices vs seats filled.
TMP was almost 30 years ago
Fantastic. I have seen it 8 times niw. Hey Bob Orci. I tripple dog dare you to make the next move so grate that it will make me see the next Movie more then i have seen this one. Are you up to the challenge. I know i am. Lol
You know what this means. It could be like Casino Royale. Did great as a refresh film. Then the second film came out and was somewhat of a disappointment!
I’m kidding.
I hope its not the case. I just hope the film continues to do well and we see more great Trek with stories that has questions about science, ideals or philosophy in a great adventure story next time.
Hey Anthony. How many times have you seen Trek.
Great numbers domestically! But it seems that Paramount needs to invest a bit more in international markets. If they do so, I think the sequel will work better overseas.
By the way, Vulcan’s sky DOES get blue! In the episode “Terra Nova” of Enterprise, T’Pol states that the Vulcan sky does occasionally get as blue as Earths. So, no canon violations. Nerdy stuff, I know.
@5: JML9999:
Don´t be offended. The new Star Trek movie was a great risk for Paramount. When you look at the total gross of the last 4 ST movies you will know why 300 Mio. $ was almost unthinkable for a ST movie.
But I am still a little shocked how badly ST is doing in the international markets. Okay, there is an increase in sales in comparison to Nemesis but overall the Nemesis Shadow is still a little too big. I am hoping that many many people here in Europe will give ST a chance when the DVD and Blu-Ray is out. I´ll bet that the next ST movie will also have legs in the international markets (if it is good). ;)
I’m somewhat disappointed for this movie’s performance outside the US. It’s a wonderful movie, it’s sad things happen this way.
hr is reporting 11.5m for trek this weekend for a 87m total
Good to see people are buying into the whole style over substance approach of JJ Abrams and O&K
Give me Behr, Moore, Taylor, Braga, Berman or Coto. any day.
Why do the IMAXs in the US just stop playing it after two weeks? I went to see it on 7th May at the BFI IMAX in the UK and I’m going to see it again on the 8th June where it’s still playing at least three times a day. I wanted to see it sooner but the 8th June was the first day I could actually get decent centre seats.
there were almost no marketing for the movie here in germany and i think same thing in rest of europe! that angeldemon movie is another reason: it is so much about european history, people had a better link to it!
#2: Oh HELL yeah. If it could reach that by my Graduation Day, I would geekasm.
i can haz extended showings?
#5. tholianhata:
“it’s still only in fourth place among all the Trek movies in terms of attendance”
Only?! ST 2009 made more in 25 days than all but 3 ST movies! And actually it should become 3rd by tomorrow, beating TWOK. Then 2nd before week 4 is done, beating TVH.
Good to see people are buying into the whole style over substance approach of JJ Abrams and O&K
Give me Behr, Moore, Taylor, Braga, Berman or Coto. any day.
Well. I think Trek had wonderfull Substance and i for one am so glad that Bernman and comp had nothing to do with Trek. This was the best Trek Movie. Not just in style but in substance and drama and humer and fx. Trek had the whole package.
16-Max I am sorry you didn’t enjoy the new film. As a LONG time Trekkie, I would offer the opinion that it NEEDED a bit more style; it is a two hour movie which can’t afford to build up to great storytelling like DS9 (two seasons before the really good stuff hit), ENT (season four hit its stride) TNG (Season three finally balanced Roddenberryism with action), or VOY (oh, wait. That show NEVER hit its stride). The first six Trek films could not operate in a vacuum, and are truly appreciated in the context TOS provides- and the four TNG films were NEVER better than the series (with the possible exception of First Contact). This movie had a responsibility to throw in some flash while digging for what made Trek great in the first place- characters. I would ask you consider that before dismissing this more stylized approach. “More of the same” would have killed Trek- I like the fact people who wouldn’t talk to me about TOS a month ago are asking to borrow episodes from me. If it takes lens flares to get 18 year olds watching Trek- so be it.
Wonder if the MST3k guys will do a riff on the new movie…
#17 Wiki Says Film Breaks in IMAX HD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMAX
I would imagine similar issues with Standard IMAX just a little longer to happen
@9 Actually I’m hoping it is more like the Batman franchise…bad movie and poor box office (‘Batman and Robin’) leads to a reboot of the series (‘Batman Begins’) that does well critically and financially and leads to ‘The Dark Knight’.
@16 It’s fun…something a Star Trek movie (or Star Trek in general) hasn’t been in almost 20 years.
@18 Agreed on all counts…lived in Germany for 4 years and some movies never seem to be advertised well (or at all) and even have a limited showing in the the Kinos. When ‘Superman Returns’ came out I had to watch it at a Air Force movie theater (Ramstein AB) because it never came out anywhere in the area.
Oh and by the way regarding the IMAX showings, as everyone knows that changed the release date and in doing so the were only able to get a slot of two weeks for IMAX theaters. Talked to a theater manager about that in Augusta, Georgia.
@22 I agree with everything you said (wow you’re reading my mind) with the exception of ENT…the only reason it ‘seemed’ to get better was because it started riffing on elements of the original series. Yeah I liked seening orion slaves girls, augments, Arik Soong, and so on…but the characters were still boring and in the end I didn’t care what happened to them.
And I thought Paramount were OUT OF THEIR VULCAN MINDS for pushing TREK back from Christmas to Summer. I thought, “No way would a STAR TREK film do gangbusters as a Summer Movie, bound to be trounced by everything else.”
Now I think the guys running the show at Paramount are geniuses.
28 Now I think the guys running the show at Paramount are geniuses.
I agree withy you. When thay announced that i was so upset. But now. Im happy happy happy!!!!!!.
I can’t wait for the next phase.. DVD & BluRay sales figures! What better film to own in high definition; I have my credit card handy; but alas this long run in the multiplexes will have me waiting a while ;-)
#5 tholianhata
The top domestic box office number for Trek is TMP @ $239M (adjusted) – that being after it’s full 3-5 month run at the box office. Since BoxOfficeGuru is predicting $250M gross domestic by the end of ST09’s run, it should easily be the the most popular film in the Trek franchise to date.
However, Guru is grossly overstating ST09 as the 7th highest grossing blockbuster in Paramount’s history. Guru’s “All Time” chart is unadjusted actual numbers only. Using boxofficemojo adjusted All Time list puts Trek’s $250M projection below the 16th and last Par film shown on the chart at $336M. So it is likely Trek is in the top 25, which is still pretty good, but 7th is just simply misleading (IN MY OPINON)
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm
Lastly, Trek also has the biggest budget of all the movies. Assuming it earns $250M domestically, once you deduct the $150M actual cost to make the film (reported by the studio), Trek has cleared only $100M domestically, which puts it 5th behind TMP which had a similar adjusted budget and performance numbers, in terms of profit performance.
WHILE THIS IS MERELY MY OPINION –
The numbers reflect actual adjusted for inflation box office, which have been reduced by the actual cost to make the film. (NOT the marketing, distribution or any other cost which can be amortized over sequels and other projects within the franchise).
I don’t make this analysis to bring the film down, but to put it in perspective. Trek will likely be the MOST popular film in the franchise and will likely be one of Paramount’s most 25 popular films at the box office. All of these things are jewels in Trek’s crown, which was already hugely successful for Paramount in the past.
And #13, this was NEVER a “great risk for Paramount”. As these numbers show, Trek was making plenty of money for Paramount, especially with the budgets they were spending. It had an excellent profit ratio until Nemesis. It was then they stepped back, reevaluated and brought yet another successful franchise onboard in JJ Abrams, and with the profit potential of both allocate $150M budget with full confidence they would earn it back. A studio just doesn’t throw $150 away on a gamble. Abrams/Trek was always going to earn back their investment, which was also an investment toward the future, the only question was how successful they were going to be. The answer is clearly: VERY.
16. Max – May 25, 2009
The sour grapes are on the table.
The substance was there, I’m sorry you did not see it that way…. or did you see it all?
Seen this movie 9 times already. Bloody well going to see it one more time. Try and stop me!
LOL WAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 278.5M!!! They are going to double their money on this. The next two films are locked!
Word of mouth worked so well, so did the all the advertising. Yes this could have done better overseas, but its doing better then past trek movies overseas and in every other way. Honestly…278.5M…what the hell do you have to nit pick about? This is the most a star trek film has made in its time (without the inflation conversion.) I hope this movie wins an oscar.
Does anyone know how if Paramount has said anything, officially, regarding Trek’s box office performance. I hope they increase the budget and go for an even bigger scale. Go $200 million and create an enemy that is more 3 dimensional. I think even going with a story line in the next one that continues, a larger War, or something.
#16:
>Give me Behr, Moore, Taylor, Braga, Berman or Coto. any day.<
The folks that were around for VOY, ENT, ‘Insurrection’ & ‘Nemesis’? Those folks?
I need to go see it again before it vanishes from theatres. 83
Great to see ‘Trek doing well!
So is it “logical” to assume that the since the Same writing team is heading up Transformers, (and FX are a given) that it will have the same Success?? More so Probably because Trans, is further reaching with it’s demographic.
Here’s hoping it will go much Higher than this, way more and Faster too.
“33. Roman – May 25, 2009
Seen this movie 9 times already. Bloody well going to see it one more time. Try and stop me!”
lol It’s stuff like this that is really padding the numbers. Not as many new butts in seats as it seems.
I don’t get the whole going to see a movie 90 times. If i see it once, good enough, I’ve seen it. The only reason I saw this one twice is because my friend wanted me to come along for company and she even paid for it.
#39
Personally, if I enjoy *any* movie this much, I’m game for seeing it more than once in the theatre. For me, the theatre experience is never matched at home (HDTV & Bluray be damned), so I have to enjoy it while I still can.
I wouldn’t say that’s ‘padding the numbers’, however. A very small percentage of fans or really any moviegoer will see a film that often.
Down 47%? haha! Great number…
I’m going back enough to more than make up for those too-old-timers who aren’t going, and who can’t relax and enjoy the best Trek movie in many years, Too bad for them! I’ve been a fan since 71 and I’m loving this return to roots.
Just back from my second “Trek” to ST09, and the cinema was sold out 2 showings in a row Monday here in NYC.
TREKPOWER IN 09!
Dang, if Shat was in it, it would have broken $200m through memorial day…
Trek is an AMERICAN product. It’s had a heavy hand in shaping AMERICAN culture. It’s foundation is an AMERICAN TV show.
There’s no reason to have EVER expected Star Trek to be as substantial overseas.
People have known the films overseas as something they don’t get and can’t relate to. Nor should they.
Well, I saw it again today with my daughter. Theater was almost packed. Sorry to say she didn’t thoroughly enjoy it, but I did – again.
16-
If you love Berman and Braga so much, then you can have them. I believe you can find those two over at FOX (an oddly appropriate outcome). Maybe you can help them pitch a pilot for a sci-fi series about a starship full of beauty contestants. We can even bring Jeri Ryan back as 7 of 9.
Most people I talk to say they want to see it twice!!!
Cha-ching.
Max # 16
I can’t understand the negativity.
“Star Trek” is the biggest hit of 2009 and you are trying to find fault with it?
Do you understand that this franchise was considered dead by most observers only a few months back?
Star Trek’s return to the top of the pop culture heap has been nothing short of stunning.